Scotch Whisky Review #353: Royal Lochnagar 16 Year Diageo 2021 Special Release

Distillery: Royal Lochnagar.

Region: Highland.

Age: 16 Year.

ABV: 57.5%. Cask Strength.

Cask Type: American oak and European oak refill casks.

Cost: Sample courtesy of /u/I_SAID_NO_GOLDFISH.

Color: 1.0, Deep Copper.

This is the 18th installment of this years’ Christmas Countdown. You can see the 2020 edition here and 2019 edition here.

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Nose: It smells like a nice, spring morning out in a meadow somewhere. Fresh flowers, daises perhaps?, and grass are the major notes here. Following along comes some fruit notes. Melons are the biggest component in the form of melon hard candy and cantaloupe. There is a bunch of other fruit as well, but nothing else stands out like the melons do.

Palate: Those fruity notes from the nose just continue on here. It’s a melon wonderland with tons and tons of it. Cantaloupe, honeydew, and musk melon are the stand outs. With water, those notes simply intensify even more.

Finish: Medium in length. Honeydew is the biggest notes here though some floral notes come back in as well.

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Conclusion: Melons are among my favorite group of fruits, honeydew being perhaps my favorite of them (largely fueled by a childhood love for an ice cream bar flavored with it). This Royal Lochnagar is like taking a trip to a melon farm. From start to finish, this is packed full of various notes of melons. There are some other fruits, but they just all take second stage to the sweet deliciousness that is honeydew, cantaloupe, and musk melon. The nose adds a really fun element of spring morning notes with the finish also having some of those notes as well. On the whole, this Royal Lochnagar is right up my alley. The problem comes with the price tag, at a MSRP of $250, this simply does not live up to that price point. At half that, I’d buy a bottle or few but as it stands, it is too simple and an easy pass.

Final Score: 82.

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Scotch Whisky Review #353, Highland Review #72, Whisky Network Review #503

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Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.